Kip Jones

KIP JONES, an American by birth, has been studying and working in the UK for more than 19 years. Under the umbrella term of 'arts-based research', his main efforts have involved developing tools from the arts and humanities for use by social scientists in research and its impact on a wider public or a Perfomative Social Science.

Jones is Reader in Performative Social Science and Director of the Centre for Qualitative Researchat Bournemouth University. Kip has produced films and written many articles for academic journals and authored chapters for books on topics such as masculinity, ageing and rurality, and older LGBT citizens. His ground-breaking use of qualitative methods, including biography and auto-ethnography, and the use of tools from the arts in social science research and dissemination are well-known.

Jones acted as Author and Executive Producer of the award-winning short film, RUFUS STONE, funded by Research Councils UK. The film is now available for free viewing on the Internet and has been viewed by more than 13,000 people in 150 countries.

Areas of expertise• Close relationships, culture and ethnicity• Social psychology, sociology• Ageing, self and identity• Interpersonal processes, personality, individual differences, social networks, prejudice and stereotyping• Sexuality and sexual orientation• Creativity and the use of the arts in Social Science

Media experienceHis work has been reported widely in the media, including:BBC Radio 4,BBC TV news,Times Higher Education, Sunday New York Times, International Herald-Tribune and The Independent.

Thursday, 19 May 2011

One of the frights/delights of writing background for Rufus Stone here is how easily the character takes over when I am writing him.I have heard and read about this phenomenon from fiction writers often, but never experienced it personally before.As researchers, we often (too often?) speak of the ‘embodied’, but when do we actually physically experience it?I think that I finally have in writing background story for this film’s characters.

Through developing the craft of ‘fictive reality’, I have learned to let the characters take over.One example is Abigail.Her character began from two directions—first, the contemporary neighbour of Rufus.Secondly, the character of young Ellie, Rufus’ sister, who came to me in a dream. I subsequently incorporated her into the story.Then, at the suggestion of the film’s director (who will create the final script), young Ellie became young Abigail and a triangle between the teenaged Rufus, Flip and Abigail was born.

We are now at the stage in the film’s development where the director and I are consulting on the ‘treatment’ or plot of the story.As each twist and turn develops, it is my responsibility to ensure that characters and their behaviour are grounded in the research.Fortunately, because of the thoroughness of our investigation, there is a plethora of background and story from which to create composite characters and actions that move the story forward.Because of my familiarity with the research and its biographies, this information has become part of me, embodied, in a sense, or at least at my fingertips.It is subsequently over to the director to then use his skills and creativity to come up with the best ‘story telling’ from this material.

Writing gay characters can be a challenge as well.Because I love it, but also because it is crucial to biography, history (social, political, cultural) is central to this film’s story.The characters in Rufus Stone ‘came of age’ at a time when homosexuality was illegal in the U.K.Although the law changed in 1967, history had a profound effect on the particular generation whose story we tell and the film will describe that.In speaking recently with a young reporter from a UK gay news source, the other end of the phone went very quiet when I said, ‘When they were youths and “coming out” (or not), the term “gay” did not even exist; neither did the concept of “coming out”’.Our story is enriched by these facts; with this knowledge, the characters’ actions become more understandable.

How much of Rufus Stone is my story?This is a difficult question.As an older gay man, of course I identify with the characters. Nonetheless, I grew up in a different country in a different time and under different circumstances.Still, there are similar memories and these are helpful in writing the background for the film.It also makes it easier for me to say to the director, ‘No, they wouldn’t react that way, rather this way’.There are certain experiences (or perhaps ‘memories’ to be more exact) that we share in common. In conducting a biographic interview with one of the volunteers, I recall clearly his reaching a point in his story when he was also telling my story.It was quite a moment for me and reinforced a fact that is so often overlooked in reporting on lesbian and gay experiences: outputs are not simply findings on sexual encounters; they are stories about relationships which are often complex ones with histories grounded in family, community, place and time.

I am loving working with Josh Appignanesi, who was chosen to direct Rufus Stone.His creativity and enthusiasm coupled with his skill and knowledge of filmmaking, guarantee that the film will be exciting and worthwhile.I am enjoying learning about the intricacies of bringing a story to life on film and picking up a few new skills as well in the process.

I know that I have left readers here hanging with a story without completion.Is it fair of me to say that all will be revealed in the film?After all, I never promised more than background story here. Writing these short essays has been beneficial to me and, I hope, helpful to the director as well.Rather than diving directly into writing treatment or script, it has allowed the characters of Rufus Stone to become more rounded and defined in my own mind.

To make up for this a bit, we are creating a website for the film and a dedicated YouTube channel (URL soon to be announced).We will post background information on the film, crew and cast, once they are chosen.We are also planning to have daily video reports from the shooting locations during filming the week of 11 July.There is already a facebook group where you can also keep up with our progress (Rufus Stone the movie).

For those who love story (I am one of them), I can tell you that things in the countryside do not go smoothly for Rufus.His becoming reacquainted with his childhood companions, compounded by memory and retrospect, creates a caldron of disappointment, disruption and suspicion. In the end, is Rufus a better man for this experience?Does he transcend these encounters and revelations, disappointments and complexities?Or does he succumb to life’s tragedies and become bitter?

This is the fourth instalment of the background story for the short film, Rufus Stone, to be produced as the key output of our three-year research project, "Gay and Pleasant Land? -a study about positioning, ageing and gay life in rural South West England and Wales ". The Project is a work package in the New Dynamics of Ageing Project, "Grey and Pleasant Land?: An Interdisciplinary Exploration of the Connectivity of Older People in Rural Civic Society" and funded by the British Research Councils.

'Kip Jones brings the genre of what he calls performative social sciences forward with wide-ranging theoretical, academic, and artistic products in a various media that takes up how social scientists can use art for investigation and dissemination.'

About Me

I am an expert in biographic narrative intperpretive method and performative social science.

My greatest strength is my ability to get people involved—even excited—about the possibilities of creative human interactions, knowledge-sharing and the potential of qualitative social science endeavours.

An American by birth, I have been studying and working in the UK for the past 15 years and travelling throughout Europe to learn and engage. Part of my work has involved developing tools from the arts and humanities for use by social scientists in dissemination of qualitative data.

Recognition

What they say at JISC:Kip’s blog, ‘KIPWORLD’, covers a wide range of topics from advice on writing a PhD thesis to insight into his creative process. He regularly uses his blog, Facebook and Twitter to share his research (with) others. Kip also contributes to the LSE Impact blog, LSE Review of Books, Discover Society, Sociological Imagination, Creative Quarter, The Creativity Post and the Bournemouth University Research Blog.

Creative Commons

Watch RUFUS STONE now!

Watch award-winning, research-based short biopic, RUFUS STONE live on the Internet.
“This film is as good as most Oscar-nominated shorts, and vastly superior to many. In my opinion, it is just about as good as a short film gets.” –Patricia Leavy, The Qualitative Report
Nominated for the AHRC Anniversary Prize for Research in Film, the Jury remarked:'Beautifully made, lyrical and moving and packs a complete narrative arc into its short span.'

5 Minutes with Kip Jones

Kip Jones at LSE Literary Fest

Kip Jones was a member of the panel at the LSE Review of Books hosted event as part of the 5th LSE Space for Thought Literary Festival, entitled, "Beyond the Book: new forms of academic communication". Kip spoke on “Performative Social Science: What it is and how it started” then joined the panel for a lively Q&A session. A podcast of the event is now available.